overcoming our bent toward blindness for the wonders of the ordinary

these are 11 resolutions from a lecture by clyde kilby as quoted in "when i don't desire God" by john piper (also where i got the title of this post):

1. at least once every day i shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that i, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above m and about me.

2. instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, i shall suppose the universe guided by and Intelligence which, as aristotle said of greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle and an end. i think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by bertrand russell before his death, when he said: "there is darkness without and when i die there will be darkness within. there is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."

3. i shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event filled, if i so wish, with worthy potentialities. i shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

4. i shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. i shall know what i am doing when i abstract, which of course i shall often have to do.

5. i shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. i shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories i might belong to. mostly i shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

6. i shall open my eyes and ears. once every day i shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. i shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. i shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.

7. i shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision i had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of lewis carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."

8. i shall follow darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.

9. i shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as charles williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." i shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists in just now.

10. if for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, i shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.

11. even i if i turn out to be wrong, i shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course i shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega.

...good stuff to read over slowly and to let it sink in.

i guess it's some kinda surfing terminology...

so the other night on the way home, i popped "the legend of chin" into the cd player. i was reminded that i hadn't listened to it in awhile (since i was only partways able to sing along with the lyrics), and i thought to myself, "you know what? that switchfoot band might just become popular." as i reminisced, i realized that wasn't always the common belief around here...

why did i originally purchase "the legend of chin"? well, because they were playing at the ATF we were going to attend. that was back in the day when sarah was traveling with them doing drama and such (atf, not switchfoot). i don't particularly enjoy concerts when i don't know the songs (or maybe i should say - i particularly enjoy concerts more when i DO know the songs), so mike and i made a trip up to family in boardman and purchased said cd (this was pre heaven on earth and pre switchfoot cds at wal-mart AND when gasoline cost less than today for a trip to boardman). i liked it (particulary, "might have ben hur".... "this one goes out to charlton heston"... he died last week). many others were disappointed that switchfoot was to be the atf band, because AUDIO ADRENALINE was playing at the other atf's, and they were a band everybody knew. poor switchfoot... most of our group went to the merch tables and the restrooms rather than listen to them play. sorry guys, we were meant to live for so much more...

but wow, that's been so long ago now... jerome has joined switchfoot, the kiddies we took to atf are all grown up and my facebook friends, and the only place i could find a video including ben hur has this guy talking about pandas and cats and then lip syncing it in tons of craziness... oh well, i still like the song.

the cranberries and the mercy of the Lord

you know how there are certain songs that when they start playing, you just like singing them to your sister just for the reaction? like "benny and the jets"? and she can get so annoyed by you going "benny" "benny" "BENNY"... ok, so maybe you don't, but another song that i would always run to sarah's room when it would come on was "linger" by the cranberries... haha - i always just got a kick out of trying to sing like her (dolores o'riordan - i just looked it up... yup, sis, one i didn't know).

well, this morning's sermon was out of genesis 19 where God destroys sodom and gomorrah:

"as morning dawned, the angels urged lot, saying, 'up! take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.' but he lingered. so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city." gen. 19:15-16

when i read the word "lingered", i started to think of the cranberries song and the words "you know i'm such a fool for you, you've got me wrapped around your finger." (i am TOTALLY fighting the urge to type it out the way that she sings it!) and it's true, often i AM a fool for the world, and i DO linger...

so i say, "praise God for His mercy! that He comes to seize me by the hand and bring me out of terrible places and sin that can be so deceiving. forgive me, Lord, for becoming enamored with this world and its ways. bring me to my senses, i pray. help me to love YOU more!"

did charles wesley ever drive across I-80?

O, for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise
The glories of my God and King
The triumphs of His grace

My gracious Master and my God
Assist me to proclaim
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name

So come on and sing out
Let our anthem grow loud
There is one great love Jesus

Jesus, the name that charms our fears
That bids our sorrows cease
‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears
‘Tis life and health and peace

He breaks the power of cancelled sin
He sets the prisoners free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me

He speaks and listening to His voice
New life the dead receive
The mournful broken hearts rejoice
The humble poor believe

Glory to God and praise and love
Be ever, ever giv’n
By saints below and saints above
The church in earth and Heav’n

There are so few words
That never grow old
There are so few words
That never grow old
Jesus

crowder was singing it on the cd and it sure seemed appropriate as we were driving into the setting sun on saturday night. what a glorious sight! a book i was recently reading talks about how dogs have trouble understanding when we point at things. they tend to want to check out our hands rather than looking at what we are really pointing to. may i never miss to WHOM the beauty in creation points: the heavens declare the glory of GOD. i praise Him for the setting sun and the orange sky... for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. to Him be the glory forever!